1. Field of the Invention
A device adapted for insertion into the rectum for artificially simulating a stool therewithin and a method for using the device for evaluating anorectal function.
2. Prior Art
Disorders of defecation affect 10% of the population. Constipation in adults and encopresis in children account for a majority of these disorders. A device placed within the rectum of a patient can be used to provide information necessary for making a clinical evaluation of such disorders. Such a device enables the clinician to confirm a diagnosis of obstructive defecation and generally screen patients complaining of constipation for this disorder.
Prior art devices used for evaluating anorectal function include various water filled balloons and a more or less cohesive mass formed from an intimate mixture of mashed potatoes and barium sulfate. A device such as a water-filled balloon is inserted in the patient's rectum and inflated to simulate a stool. The time required for expelling the device from the rectum provides a measure of the person's ability to eliminate stool. A mixture of mashed potatoes and barium sulfate provides a somewhat cohesive malleable mass, having a consistency similar to a stool and which, when contained within the rectum, is deformed during defecation enabling the changes to be followed by radiography. A disadvantage of the water-filled balloon is that there is no means for following the progression of deformation during defection by radiography. Further, such water-filled balloons generally do not have the consistency and rheologic properties of an actual stool. The cohesive mass formed from mixing barium sulfate with mashed potatoes lacks the structural integrity of an actual stool, requires a caulking gun and unusual force to inject into the rectum, is messy and generally not acceptable to either radiologists or patients. Thus, the prior art devices have deficiencies which have not been overcome.